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COREDAR for Cities: Developing a Capacity Building Tool for Sea-Level Rise Risk Communication and Urban Community-Based Adaptation

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Climate Change Adaptation in North America

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Sea-level rise (SLR) is one of the greatest threats for densely populated low-lying coastal cities. Building capacities at community level to address the challenges of SLR is an important first step towards adaptation planning. However, efforts and attention for community based adaptation (CBA) in urban coastal cities are often ignored and not given much importance. Thus, building capacity through SLR risk communication and involving communities in framing urban CBA is a high priority for cities. Nevertheless, it is a difficult task for climate scientists to communicate complex SLR science and build capacity at local level. To address these challenges, this study has put forth three research questions through the lens of SLR risk communication and urban CBA, as (1) What, if any, community engagement in risk communication in addressing SLR risk occurring in urban areas; (2) What information does communities need and (3) How does it need to be communicated, in order to be better prepared and have a greater sense of agency? To answer these questions, by following the framework on SLR risk communication and urban CBA, this study has resulted in evolving “COREDAR” (COmmunicating Risk of sea-level rise and Engaging stakeholDers in framing community-based Adaptation stRategies), a capacity building tool for SLR risk communication and urban CBA. Thus, this study seeks to provide insights on communicating the risk of SLR and to evolve a robust picture of urban CBA through effective decision-making that is grounded in pressing community priorities by developing a capacity building tool for urban coastal cities.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Department of State, Government of the United States of America and Government of India through the Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research Program 2015–2016. I place my sincere record of appreciation to Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) and Institute of International Education (IIE), Washington, DC, USA and United States Indian Educational Foundation (USIEF), New Delhi, India. I am indeed grateful to Dr. Robert S. Chen (Director) and Dr. Alex de Sherbinin (Associate Director) of CIESIN, Columbia University; Prof. A. Ramachandran and Prof. K. Palanivelu of Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation Research (CCC&AR), Anna University, Chennai, India for their support. I am very much thankful to other potential partners of COREDAR, Prof. Cynthia E. Rosenzweig (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and UCCCRN); Prof. Radley Horton (Centre for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University); Prof. Adam Paris (Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn College); Prof. Laxmi Ramasubramanian (The Institute for Sustainable Cities, Hunter College); Dr. Ebru A. Gencer (Centre for Urban Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience); Mr. Kytt MacManus, Ms. Elisabeth Sydor, Dr. Malgosia Madajewicz and Dr. Sandra Baptista of Columbia University for their generous support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), The Earth Institute, Columbia University, PO Box 1000, Palisades, New York, 10964, NY, USA

    A. Saleem Khan

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  1. A. Saleem Khan
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Correspondence to A. Saleem Khan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Jesse M. Keenan

Annexure-I

Annexure-I

Checklist outline of the COREDAR capacity building tool for SLR risk communication and urban CBA for coastal cities.

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Khan, A.S. (2017). COREDAR for Cities: Developing a Capacity Building Tool for Sea-Level Rise Risk Communication and Urban Community-Based Adaptation. In: Leal Filho, W., Keenan, J. (eds) Climate Change Adaptation in North America. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53742-9_9

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